Crafting for Charity

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Does anyone here do any charity craft projects such as caps and blankets for preemie infants? My friend Liz and I are in the process of organizing a Pagan womens needlework group to donate items to a couple of local hospitals and possibly a womens shelter. We're looking for sources of free knitting, crochet, and sewing patterns for caps, booties, blankets, burial gowns, etc. We've already found a lot of great links on the Crochet Guild of America website, but any additional resources would be greatly appreciated. Also, if any of you have organized a charity needlework group or have worked with one of the national groups such as Afghans for Angels or Project Linus, I'd love to hear about your experiences and any tips or suggestions you may have. Thanks a lot and Happy Holidays!

-- Sherri C (CeltiaSkye@aol.com), December 14, 2001

Answers

Sounds like a great cause Sherri. I hope you get lots of ideas.

My neighbor makes baby quilts and donates them to a local hospital. This way every baby gets a new quilt. She is an amazing quilter. She can take the littlest scraps, and biggest variety of scraps and turn them into beautiful works of art.

-- Melissa (me@home.net), December 14, 2001.


Hi, Sherri! Here's a website that has several free crochet patterns for baby things:

http://www.crochetnmore.com/123freepat.htm

Hope it helps. Best of luck with your group!

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), December 14, 2001.


Hello Sherri,

That is really nice of you to start a project like making stuff for preemies! My youngest daughter was/is a preemie and we had such a hard time finding clothes for her to wear. Her first visit to the doctor after she came home was in clothes that were from a Cabbage Patch Doll. When we did find clothes to fit her they were extremely expensive. Now that she is twenty months old she is wearing six month old size clothing. We donated a small fortune of her premie clothes to the church in our community. They told us that preemie clothes were in dire need. So anyone that can do good like you are doing deserves an applause and recognition!

Sincerely,

Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), December 14, 2001.


Sherri-I do a fair amount of charity needlework. My favorite organization is Care Wear-a non-profit group in Maryland that focuses mostly on premies but makes a variety of different items. They send out a quarterly newsletter full of patterens and newspaper clippings. For a modest fee-$2 I believe, they will send a booklet of basic patterns-or you can go to their website (I don't know how to get this so you can go there automatically)- http:/www.hood.edu/carewear -(they work out of Hood College) or type Care wear (two words) into a search engine. I believe they are linked to other sites-maybe crochet partners? You can send items to them OR they publish a hospital list-you can find a hospital in your area and send things directly to the hospital.

My experince with Linus project was that it was kind of unorganized- though that might have just been the local chapter (That was Lexington, Ky about five years ago) Lately I have found so much to do in my community that Care Wear is the only organized charity I work with anymore. In our community there is a group That gets some federal, some state funding called Family Resources that co-ordinates services in this county-they can use all the blankets, caps, mittens etc, that I can come up with. These items are needed everywhere, but I like the idea of contributing to my local community.

I'm glad you are interested in this kind of work, I love it. Its a valuable service, but I think you will find a sense of satisfaction also. I often work while I'm listening to the news-it helps me to think I am doing something possitive to counter all the bad stuff going on.

-- Kelly (ksaderholm@yahoo.com), December 17, 2001.


Ernest I'm glad that your daughter is doing well. It's amazing how small those clothes are, isn't it? I have a knit preemie cap pattern that says their heads range in size from a large walnut to a small orange.

Kelly, Care Ware is one of the groups we were considering so it's nice to have a positive report. I spoke to someone in the "Cheer Guild" office at Riley Childrens Hospital here in Indianapolis and she said that they would take any sort of donation. I tried to get her to give me a list of specific items that they need the most but she declined. I'm hoping that I can get in touch with someone who works in the NICU who can give me some more specific info. I've also made arrangements to donate items at a nursing home and a no-kill animal shelter. Things are really starting to come together. Our next task is to try to find some cheap/donated sources for materials. Happy Hollydaze! :)

-- Sherri C (CeltiaSkye@aol.com), December 17, 2001.



Sherry-try thrift strores-they often have odd bits of un-used yarn- sometimes full skeins, at really low prices(plus you are helping yet another charity!) Some Walmart stores do a Charity of the Month thingwhere they donate up to a hundred dollors of supplies I'm not sure how this works. I've gotten tons of cheap stuff at yard sales- though this isn't the best time of year. Some fabric/yarn shops may be willing to donate-or help with materials. Try putting up notices in grocery stores, library-any community bullitin boards -asking for materials donations-lots of time women are happy to clear out extra yarn and such especially to give to an organization like this, and the best thing about doing baby stuff is it dosn't take much in the way of materials. Best of luck to you!

-- Kelly (Ksaderholm@yahoo.com), December 17, 2001.

It is great that you have done something for premies. When my daughter was born, there wasn't anything for them. You couldn't even get diapers. That was twenty years ago. Then my mother and I were out and we were looking for a gift for a friend. We went into the toy department and ended with clothes and diapers for dolls that fit my daughter. It seems that she went from them to newborn and then into school size clothes. There are just a few stores where I live that have patterens, but they are for sewing and knitting. I have to travel for about an hour to get to any stores that sell quilting patterns. we have a new fabric store opening soon so I hope to find some easy patterens to try. Since we live you might in the country, and the snow belt area of Ontario, it sure would make the days shorter in the winter to have something to do. I knit for our local hospital for the preemies hat mitts and sweaters, but I would rather try a small quilt. I have helped friends out, but would like to make the mistakes on my own. I heard it made the quilt better. It would also help because my preemie is moving out. She is now twenty, and is still small if frame, and needs something to keep her warm.

-- Peggy Desjardins (Peggy Desjardins@Sympatico.ca), March 11, 2002.

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